Microscopy as a technique for the imaging of biological cells has been in use for many hundreds of years, over which period many techniques have been developed to improve the quality of images that are obtained of such biological cells when using various microscopes.
Historically, microscopy techniques have seen an evolution from complex intricate optics-based solutions for image enhancement [1-6] towards more recent developments that apply various image processing techniques [7-9] to images obtained in order to enhance images.
However, whilst a combination of modern optics and image processing techniques has provided for improved microscopy images, there are still certain applications where conventional techniques are sub-optimal for this task.
For example, in various applications the visualisation of non-stained cells with transmitted light is considered a desirable mode of imaging. However, where the cells lack contrast with a surrounding medium, they can be difficult to image. Additionally, the use of certain conventional techniques that may be used to address this problem, such as the use of fluorescent markers [6,8], are not well-suited for various applications like high-throughput screening (HTS) microscopy assays as they require the use of chemical contrast agents that might themselves harm living cells or otherwise influence the biochemical processes that occur in those cells.